Suggestions and advice with my character build progression

Hey guys,

I am new here. I haven't been playing D&D for that long but I have been a nerd, Tolkien reader etc for a long time, played digital games etc. And I think I got the hang of it pretty well but I am always open to learning and tips.

We are playing as party of 5 players. A rogue dwarf, a variant Human wizard, a half-elf artificer, a goliath barbarian and my high elf Paladin. We are playing by 2014 rules mostly(which is good for Paladins I would say), initially the DM, who is a new DM although he is very dedicated and learns fast, told us to adhere to the strict racial bonuses as standard, but then later since there were some mistakes in some sheets we were allowed to redistribute our points using the optional customized distribution rules, either the 2014 tasha's optional rules or the 2024 backgrounds' rules, each player could choose between these, but we should follow it strictly and not mix both, you had to follow either one of them and the skill proficiencies it dictated. Under my suggestion he also allowed us to pick between the 2024 feats and half-feats version and the 2014 one, we could choose any feat or half-feat from either one of them(at ASI/feat stages) which I deem good. Both feats and/or the optional character creation rules don't really unbalance the game, the main differences betwee 2014 and 2024 is action economy, extra features and abilities, feats work basically the same way.

We are at level 7 currently, we are just about to get to level 8(probably next session), until level six we were playing with full health dices, then the DM chose to restrain our HPs until we equalized with the expected number for our level(which would be level 9), and we all started really strong because of the full health dices and initial magical items(even overpowered I would say), but it was fun and now he is balancing it more. Because of the optional customization of racial bonuses, in my case following the 2024 background rules, I was able to get acceptable stats for a high elf which isn't usually the best choice for Paladins, but I think it is thematically very fitting. Our campaign is mostly RP heavy but there are little spices of power gaming, although this is not the focus and narrative cohesion is preferred. My character is an Oath of Conquest Paladin with 15 strength, 12 dexterity, 14 constitution, 8 intelligence, 10 wisdom and 17 charisma, since his background is Noble, he got the origin feat skilled, counting everything his proficiencies are History, Perception, Insight, Persuasion, Intimidation, Medicine, Athletics, wisdom and charisma saving throws, quite a lot for a Paladin. Since my character has a very heavy lore and is somewhat the party face, checks in general and social checks in particular are very important for him, that's why I didn't want to dump wisdom or intelligence completely and keep him good but balanced. Because he is an elf and comes from a noble house especialized in warfare among the high elves(he has important military positions in his kingdom), I leaned into the longbow as well, despite the Greatsword being his main melee weapon, that's why his dexterity is not so dumped. I want my character to be powerful but I don't want to fully min-max, I don't want him to lose his skills at checks that are important(like Perception and Insight), his stats are not higher than that because of it and due to choosing the Fey Touched half-feat at level 4, that's why my charisma currently sits at an uneven 17. But Fey Touched is a very good feat and very useful for a Conquest Paladin. I have of course Misty Step and Silvery Barbs as my spells, Silvery Barbs is great for a Conquest Paladin. My character wears a full plate armor, uses the defense fighting style and possesses the Necklace of Prayer Beads with the first 3 beads(Bless, Cure Wounds and Greater Restoration for now) and a very strong Wakened Dragon's Wrath very rare Greatsword, we were allowed at the beginning to choose either a very rare item or two uncommon and one rare, yes I know, completely OP.

So now I am stuck on what to do on level 8 and then forwards between feat/ASI progression and the possibility of multiclassing. I might not want to multiclass, I am not sure yet and the DM said he might not allow it, he is still thinking about it, so I can't really rely on that. If I only choose ASIs I will be able the max both strength and charisma by level 19(our campaign is expected to reach level 20), but not before and only if I ignore feats and half-feats. But I was very interested in picking GWM(2024 version) half-feat at level 8, which would increase my damage considerably and give me occasional extra bonus action attacks due to the triggers, especially killing enemies, extra attacks are always valuable for Paladins. I know that people talk about Polearm master, but I find Greatswords much cooler and my weapon is incredibly strong, so not for this feat, also as a consequence of that no shields or shield based feats. My question is, what would be better:1- go full ASI all the way until level 19. 2- pick GWM at level 8 and round up my strength. 3- pick Sentinel and also round up my strength, which triggers perhaps even more extra attacks than GWM. 4- pick some charisma based half-feat like warcaster?. 5- Pick any other full feat and sacrifice my stats progression. In this option I thought about magic heavy feats like Metamagic Adept or Magic Initiate. I should say that both look much better mechanically than Warcaster, which to me is not so good for my build. If I choose a half-feat at level 8, I will have to choose another half-feat at some other level, because mathematically either strength or charisma would end up at 19 if I did not do so. I also saw that Squire of Solamnia is a very good feat, the advantage it gives and the extra damage, but especially Knight of the Sword looks great, which also increases my charisma and allows me to trigger the fear effect without spending resources. I would pick Knight of the Sword if I didn't have to pick Squire of Solamnia first and then damage my stat progression, but it is not allowed, I don't think the dm will allow it.

So what do you think? in most cases people would favor charisma because of the conquest build, but besides the hard to get Knight of the Sword, the strength based half-feats are just better and they increase my damage a lot(especially GWM), they combined with my 4 d6 +2 damage sword is really OP. I want to maximize my charisma, but my strength is alredy lagging  a little behind, so I am in a very difficult MAD dilemma. And although unlikely, what do you think about multiclassing, in our table it would have to fit the lore, so proably warlock builds would be off the table, I see Battlemaster Fighter as a good option, especially with this sword, also as far as I know, Hexblade warlock does not allow a two handed Greatsword.

1 - I personally have almost always been one for big numbers. Since Fey touched at level 4 didn’t boost your charisma like it does in the 24 rules, I would go +1 to your stregnth and charisma at level 8 to round both of them up to 16 and 18 respectfully.Then I would maximize strength and finally Charisma.

2 - Since you have the special sword I would say maximize strength first, whether that is by ASI or by GWM. Jumping ahead a little bit though, you’ll need a feat like War Caster at level 12 to even out your Charisma if you go GWM at level 8. 

3 - Sentinel works better for weapons with reach and/or other feats. If you do take it though, I would then take War Caster at level 12 and finish by maximizing your stregnth.

4 - Similarly, War Caster is most optimized with shield builds that don’t count it as basically a spellcasting focus. Having said that, it’s still your best choice of a half-feat for charisma. Just go GWM at level 12. and maximize your strength.

5 - I really can’t think of any other feats that would help you.

With MAD builds, strength of dexterity tend to be more important. 

Personally, I would have gone with the blessed warrior fighting style for the toll the dead spell and acted as a gish. My stat spread would have been 15, 8, 15+1, 8, 8, 15+2, taken GWM, taken War Caster, maxed my Cha and finally maxed my Con. Fey-touched can be great for misty step and hex, augury or silvery barbs, but with a high strength, you should be able to break grapples fairly easily. Also, I know the spread goes against your well-rounded non-optimized feel, so don’t worry too much about it!

Have fun!

Thanks Actionsparda!

Well, I don't know if I would go as far as to call my build non-optimized, it certainly is not min-maxed. But because of the longbow and initiave such a low dexterity would perhaps be bad for my character, I know Paladins are not good ranged fighters, but they still can use Branding Smite or Divine Favor to increase ranged damage, we only have an artificer and a wizard to help with ranged attacks, the DM puts flying creatures once in a while, so sometimes my longbow is the only thing that can reach them. Wisdom is also too important socially and related to Perception to dump like that, our DM likes preparing traps. Regarding con, by choosing the Noble background I can't add bonus to con, only int, cha and streng, and I prefer to maximize my offensive stats before. Anyway, because we changed our sheets twice already, I think he DM won't allow us to do that again, he already considers my character and the wizard the strongest in the table.

As far as I know Fey Touched is the same in the 2014 and 2024 versions right? it grants two free uses of Misty Step + 1 level 1 spell and +1 to charisma, it already added to my initial cha.

Regarding Fighting Styles I chose defense because of the lack of a shield, to make my character more durable, but initially it was GWF. I am considering going back to it at level 8 though, by sacrificing 1 AC, I think that rerolling damage die with a 4d6 sword would increase my damage output considerably. It depends on how much of a damage dealer(I already am) or tank I want to be. Blessed warrior is not bad but it doesn't combine with my melee attacks, I would do far more damage with 2 attacks per turn with my sword than with toll the dead.

Regarding the feat/ASI choices, I understand what you meant, but don't you think that picking GWM at level 8 instead of a full ASI, while decreasing my final streng modifier in 1, gives me overall more damage and extra attacks triggered more often? the 2024 version adds +3 to any attack made during my attack action, so +6 per turn if I land both hits, it also adds to the ranged longbow, since it is a heavy weapon. And when I want I can dump more smites to kill a creature(combined with the already massive 8d6 per turn with the sword) to gain an extra attack. These benefits seem to outweigh +1 to my streng modifier, with streng at 16 at level 8, my modifier to hit would be +8(+3 streng, +3 prof, +2 from the magical sword), my mod is the same as the +4 streng barbarian in our group, if I want I can increase my hit chances with Bless, I can cast Bless as a bonus action from the Necklace, which is very useful. I also have the Guided Strike Channel Divinity to guarantee a hit with +10, so looking for an Amulet of the Devout would be one of my priorities. 

My great dilemma was between the strength inclination of my sword and Paladins in general and the cha focused Conquest subclass. By choosing GWM I think I outweigh the -1 streng modifier ahead, the problem is stalling my spell and channel divinity DC progression.

Since my character is a high elf, he has access to a wizard cantrip, I initially chose Fire Bolt, but my int mod is terrible, unless the dm allows me to use cha( I don't think he will, he avoids changing the rules as much as possible), perhaps Booming Blade is the best option?

Anyway, glad to hear and learn, thanks folks!

Booming Blade makes Warcaster much more beneficial to your character since you can use BB as your Opportunity Attack with Warcaster. Overall I'd say with an OP weapon in terms of damage, you want to ensure your chance to hit is as high as possible so get that strength up ASAP. So GWM or Sentinel would be a good choice at level 8, Sentinel conflicts with Warcaster's attack of opportunity so if you are planning the Warcaster-Booming Blade route I'd go with GWM.

Oh! Ok. Sorry, it’s been a minute since I’ve dealt with 2014 material.

If you’re character is already at Charisma 18 and with extra attack, I’m not so sure you need Booming Blade anymore to run War Caster. If you do take War Caster and Great Weapon Master, you’ll never reach 20 in both Strength and Charisma (if you even plan to get to level 19.)

Because of all that and the sword, I would personally advise going with GWM and 8, +2 Strength at levels 12 and 16, and finally +2 Charisma at level 19. The only exceptions to this would obviously be if you come across and stat boosting magical items. I’m not sure how flexible or generous your DM is, but if you really want War Caster for its’ other abilities, I‘d try getting something to boost your Strength by +2 while still trying to get to 20 ASAP, then take War Caster and finally another Charisma boosting feat… of which I can’t remember any in 2014, so I’d double check and have a game plan before deciding on that.

On an opportunity attack I could add BB + 4d6 from the weapon(when enemies are not immune or resistant to its elemental damage, which is cold)+ Divine Smite. This is much better in 2014 rules for Paladins than in 2024. So you are suggesting me to take warcaster instead of GWM at level 8? I have seen people suggest Shadow Touched to cast Cause Fear spell in conjunction with my fear abilities. If somehow the DM allows Knight of the Sword, should I pick it at level 8 instead of GWM?

Well, my current strength is 15 and my charisma is 17, not 18. That's why I thought about picking one cha-based half-feat and one streng-based half feat, to round those numbers and get some mechanical benefit. The only way I can reach 20 in both is if I don't pick any feats or half-feats whatsoever, if I pick one half-feat, be it strength or charisma, i necessarily have to pick another of the other attribute, to round them both, so either no feats or two feats until level 20, one stat would be 20 and the other 18 in case of two half-feats. Picking just one feat is not worth it because I leave the other attribute uneven at the end at 19. That's supposing there isn't any stat boosting item.

With that said, the DM is sometimes generous but random. I have already two attuned very good items, the magical sword and the necklace of prayer beads. Their utility and mechanical benefits are too great in order to trade them for a Gauntlets of Ogre Strength let's say, any strength boosting item will be disputed between me and the Barbarian, and he will tend to be more dependent on this stat. Gauntlets of Giant Strength might appear very late in the game if ever, and for my PC, besides these two very good items, I was thinking about the Amulet of the Devout for the third attuned item, either at the uncommon or rare variants. It adds one extra channel divinity(great for conquest) and either +1 or +2 to my spell save DCs, which helps with the charisma lagging behind, I would rather look for this item than for a strength item now. The DM is still giving me the beads from the Prayer Beads, I have 3, I am about to get the fourth soon in the dungeon we are right now, so because of that I think he will impose difficulty in finding new magic items for a while. So if I can get the Amulet of the Devout and the DM allows it for the DC of Channel Divinity, it would be ok to gor for strength now. If I forsake the 20 on both attributes I gain the extra damage and occasional attacks from GWM. I don't want necessarily Warcaster, it is just that this is the only good charisma based half-feat I can think of, there is also Shadow Touched(Cause Fear is the only benefit and is dubious), Inspiring Leader(perhaps good) also bumps charisma and increases HP considerably. Knight of the Sword is great but I am uncertain if the DM will allow it. What doesn't concern me too much about strength is that even if hits only 18 at level 20, the +2 from the sword to hit plus the other bonuses keep it acceptable, especially if I cast Bless(which can be cast as bonus action with the Necklace).  The major choice is going ASI only or choosing whether I would favor charisma or strength first, it is hard to predict the exact way the DM will go.